Saturday, November 24, 2012

According to designboom "....snohetta create a unified vision for gambia’s higher level educational institutions with the new universityof gambia. the new university will relocate and unite three of gambia’s existing formal institutions and oneuniversity in a single campus for 15,000 students. in addition to designing with the educational experiencein mind, snohetta also want the project to set new environmental standards. part of this plan involves a solar

park for generating energy, a waste management centre and locally done water harvesting. because themasterplan for the university was previously undeveloped, there was no infrastructure, allowing the architects to re-invent the established western conventions. snohetta worked to develop a campus based on gambian traditions in architecture and culture..."

Monday, November 19, 2012

According to Ventures Africa Nigeria architect, designer and ‘urbanist’, Kunle Adeyemi of NLÉ in partnership with theHeinrich Boell Stiftung, has proposed plans to build a three-story school out of 16 floating platforms lashed together, capable of holding 100 students and teachers, in the waterfront slum of Makoko, area of Yaba, Lagos.

Makoko, where shacks stand above the murky, fetid water on stilts of cast-aside lumber, is visible to motorists plying the city’s Third Mainland Bridge each day on the way to the Lagos’ commercial hub – Victoria Island.

The proposition is part of NLÉ’s plan to develop an improved type of architecture and urbanism for water settlements in African coastal cities, starting with the building a prototype of a Floating School in Makoko.

The school is expected to serve the urgent needs of educating children in the community. The prototype floating building will be modular, flexible and adaptable for other building typologies: homes, community centres, playgrounds – to gradually cultivate an improved quality of architecture, urbanism and living on water.

A ‘floating’ building simultaneously addresses different issues including flooding, land occupation, and foundation construction. The energy supply is based on renewable energy technology while the currently inexisting sewage system would rely on compost toilets.

If successful, the project could be transformed into homes for more than 100,000 people who live in the slum.

Monday, July 23, 2012

According to Afritecture "...Hospices in the southern African country of Zambia are few, particularly outside the capital of Lusaka. In Chipata, population 98,416, and the capital of the Eastern Province of Zambia, the architectural duo ofELstudio and Blok Kats van Veen Architects (BKVV) were tasked by Foundation Chipata with designing a hospice that would not only relieve some of the distress of caring for the terminally ill, but also introduce a low cost and solution that could be easily replicated at low cost.

The project was designed to provide a comfortable stay for 24 patients, expandable to 48 people, and with a CO2 footprint smaller than an average European household.

The building is designed as rotunda, reminiscent of traditional huts, and organized around a central core of staff spaces and storage of medications and resources. Around it are twelve bedrooms, all visibly accessible from the central nurse station, and which can be extended yet again with extra rooms, connected by a wide circular corridor, which serves dual duties as the main circulation and providing space for family and visitors..."

There website says"...Ibuku is an international design-build team creating a new way of living. We exist to provide spaces in which people can live in an authentic relationship with nature. We do this by designing fully functional homes and furniture that are made of natural substances and built in ways that are in integrity with nature..."

"...Best know for creating the architecturally award winning bamboo buildings at Green School, our current project, Green Village, is an innovative residential villa development located within walking distance to the river valley campus. We are a full service design company that creates one of a kind designs for both residential and commercial spaces as well as artisan crafted bamboo furnishings inspired by a timeless Scandinavian design sensibility. Ibuku’s custom furnishings have captured the imagination and heart of some of the world’s leading designers, entrepreneurs and politicians..."

Another Africa writes about a project that was recycling architecture between Ethiopia and Japan,

"...Having lived in Japan for more than ten years as well as being born in Ethiopia, makes for an exotic and rare profile. In all my wanderings, I have hardly met any Ethiopians or Eritreans, Habesha people, in Japan. So, when I read about a project that was recycling architecture between Ethiopia and Japan, to say that my curiosity was peaked would be down playing it. The project combines several interests of mine, Japanese traditional architecture, sustainable and environmentally conscientious design and Africa.
The Millennium Pavilion relocation project began in 2007 to celebrate the Ethiopian millennium1 as way to build a bridge between the two countries. It is located in Gondar a historically rich and significant city in Ethiopia, the imperial capital during the 16th & 17th century..."

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

The TwentyEleven project by Architects Chris Idema and Reinier Simons is an attempt create a multifunctional Fab Workshop as well as dwellings for the inhabitants of the slums of Kibera.
According to them

"...Together with 236 inhabitants (including 52 families, 15 small companies and three workshops (two specialized in wood, one of which will become a concrete workshop and one metal), of the slums in Nairobi, we will develop a new building plan for the future inhabitants of the TwentyEleven complex..."

"...We tried to maintain the balance between an organized structure and, respect and freedom in our design. It is of great importance that the historical culture of the slum-dweller is retained in the upbringing of the new members of a community.

They need to be taught how to behave and what the norms, values and rules are when living in a slum and being a part of the community. This is what makes the community livable in for all its inhabitants.

Why should we westerners disrupt this culture? Our goal, in a country that is not our own and a culture that does not belong to us, is one of ‘letting go’. Give the Kenyans a new vision, a new idea and a system to build with, but give them a chance to have their say and let them do the building. The bond between an inhabitant and his home is one of great importance, an intensive cooperation process will help with this..."

"...We looked at how the people live in the situation they are in, what their social activities are and what is needed to survive in a slum like Kibera. These and other elements are set in a well-developed plan, which looks at the current way of life and interaction in a slum and improves the two. A newly gained freedom in combination with all the necessities like hygiene, clean water, a controlled cooking environment and better living conditions in general ensure that 236 scorned slum-dwellers rise in status and that with less worries about their housing situation, they will have more time and energy to develop themselves, their children and their environment...."

"...The order that arises in the uncontrolled chaos of a slum is beautiful. A kind of harmony, an oasis is created that works as a source of inspiration for those living in it, encouraging them to work towards a better way of life..."

About Me

Ugo Okafor is an Architect with extensive professional experience in Asia, Africa and Europe. His major interests are sustainable tropical architecture with an emphasis on the adaptation of local materials to the built environment.
Chika Okafor is a serial entrepreneur that co-writes for Spectrum Women.